Philip Larkin — ‘A Study of Reading Habits’

Following on from Auden’s American accent, I’ve discovered the reverse phenomenon in Larkin’s Sunday Sessions.

In ‘A Study of Reading Habits’ he uses the American word ‘dude’ — which, in the recorded version, he pronounces ‘dyood’ (instead of the usual ‘dood’) in a very arch Received Pronunciation.

It’s very funny. And I’m guessing deliberately conservative, in a carmudgeonly way. The poem was written in 1960, but the recording was made in 1980 — 8 years after Mott the Hoople reached #3 in the UK singles chart with the (normally pronounced) ‘All the Young Dudes’. So he can’t have been ignorant of the usual pronunciation.

Can he?